In a bid to help boost female representation in the tech industry, Africa-focused venture capital firm, TLcom Capital hosted an African Tech Female Founder Summit.

The summit, which aims to build a collaborative network for women in tech where they come together to share insights on achieving massive value generation and scale in Africa, had over 50 female founders from across Africa in attendance. Some of them are Odunayo Eweniyi of Piggyvest, Isis Nyong’o of Mum’s Village, Vivien Nwakah of Medsaf and Miishe Addy of Jet Stream, amongst others.

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Also in attendance was Senior female executives from TLcom’s portfolio companies including Twiga Foods, Kobo360, Terragon, Andela, and Ajua. The company also announced plans to hold the Summit annually while encouraging more companies to boost female representation in their organisations.

Speaking during the inaugural summit, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of MainOne, Funke Opeke emphasized the importance of female leadership.

“A clear message that should be taken away from the Summit is that the glass ceiling on female leadership can and will be broken. For incoming and incumbent women in our sector, today is a powerful display of what is possible throughout Africa’s tech scene. We had entrepreneurs from a variety of fields but what we all shared were common experiences and a shared vision for change. However, its critical we take our learnings back into our respective networks and share them with the next generation. It’s only then that we will begin to see real transformation” she said.

The event featured a range of activities – interactive sessions on the ever-changing role of the founder, the fundraising journey and attracting and retaining talent to in-depth chats featuring TLcom Capital Senior Partner, Omobola Johnson and Iris Shoor, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Israeli tech startup, Oribi.

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What you should know: TLcom Capital, which was launched in 1999, is based in Kenya, Nigeria and the UK. The venture capital firm manages total commitments of approximately 300 million USD. So far, the company has developed a broad portfolio ranging from agriculture, data analytics and logistics, focusing exclusively on technology-enabled services and innovation for SSA, across all stages of the venture capital cycle.